Awkward Happenings
by Taka Wolfen
Summary: Everything started out, simple enough.. but what happens when your girlfriend has to be killed by a certain date by a man that she barely knows? Note: Chapter one has been revised. Chapter two revision is now up. Chapter 3 is in the works.
1. Interesting day, me thinks!

A/N: I do not own the characters of Van Helsing. I only own a few clothes, some action figures, books and myself. My girlfriend owns herself.. that I know of. :) This chapter has been revised. Re-read it! See how much better it is! Oh.. and I also don't own Livejournal.

* * *

**Awkward Happenings  
**

The day started off normal enough. Courtney and I awoke, doing our usual 'good morning snuggles', rolled literally out of bed, got up, dressed and had breakfast. Y'know, the whole sha-bang.  
Little did I know how odd the days to come were going to be...

* * *

"Tara! I'm off to work!" Courtney called, from the kitchen of her nice-sized apartment. It really was a nice first apartment, for it had a large livingroom, a good-sized kitchen, a small bathroom and two well-sized bedrooms. One of which the two girls shared.  
"Wait!" Tara yelled, running out of the bedroom and into the hallway, where Courtney now stood. She pulled her lover into a loving hug and gave her a kiss, "I love you."  
"I love you, too," Courtney chuckled, "And as much as I hate it, I've really gotta go." Trying in a half-attempt to disentangle herself from Tara.   
"No..." Tara playfully pouted, but let go.  
"Yes. I'll see you when I get off." Courtney said as she walked to the door, pulling it open. "And don't forget to do the dishes! Gods know how you function with that memory of yours!"  
"Yes, dear..." Tara replied with a grin, "Now get goin'!"  
"I'm gone!" Courtney laughed as she left the apartment in the hands of her hap-hazardly, clumsy girlfriend.

* * *

With a sigh, Courtney sat back in her chair, having just finished a very irate call.  
'Grah... at times like these, I really hate working at a call center.' she thought, pushing a stand-by button to recoup for a few moments.  
"Ms. Freeman?"  
The red-head looked up to see her team leader, Rick, standing with two other men. One, she noted, was quite tall, muscular and had long-ish brown hair, coming down to about his shoulders. The other seemed quite short compared to his companion and had slightly messy, dirty-blondish hair that stuck out around his ears. That section sort of looked like wings, Courtney thought. Cute!  
"Yes?"  
"These are the new subervisors that I was telling you about during huddle yesterday. Please meet Mr. Helsing and Mr. Welsh. They will be supervising you, due to your misconduct of out policies. Remember Livejournal?"  
Courtney nodded.  
"Well, because of it, others have been visiting non-designated sites and following in your footsteps, thinking it fine. So, I hired these fine gentlemen to keep an eye on things." Rick said, giving her a stern look.  
"Oh..." Courtney said, looking up apologetically.  
"So follow the rules and you won't have to deal with these two."  
Courtney nodded again.  
"Gentlemen."  
The ment nodded to each other a farewell and the team leader walked off. Courtney turned back to her computer. She was about to push the stand-by button off when she was interrupted.  
"Excuse me, Ms. Freeman?"  
"Yes? And you don't have to call me Ms. Freeman. Please, call me Courtney. Ms. Freeman's too formal." she said with a smile.  
"I was just going to tell you to call me by my first name, which is Carl." the blonde man said. He held out a hand for Courtney to shake, which she did, her smile widening.  
"Well, hello, Carl. What about Fabio over there?" she inclined her head in the direction of Mr. Helsing.  
Hearing the Fabio comment, Mr. Helsing turned around, frowned and glared coldly.  
"Well... just call him Helsing."  
"No first name?" she queried.  
"It's not that, he just doesn't want people knowing it."  
"Ah, the mysterious Fabio-man!"  
"Well, you'd better get back to work, Courtney." Carl said, politely.  
She nodded, doing exactly that. Carl walked over to 'Mr. Helsing', saddened.  
"Don't give me that look, Carl. You know the mission as well as I do."  
"Yes, but I wish we didn't have to... She's so happy! She has a lover, her own apartment and a job! Not to mention a mother and brother whom love her dearly!" Carl pleaded in a slight English accent.  
"I know, Carl!" Helsing said in a harsh whisper, "Do you think that I want to kill someone so young? To end one's life so shortly so that we can stop Dracula from rising again and, in the process, save her soul too?"  
"No...' Carl whispered, "Her girlfriend is going to be torn..." he said more to himself.  
The former and current friar felt a hand on his shoulder.  
"I'm sorry, Carl." 


	2. What the?

AN: And now, the revised edition of chapter 2! I hope you all enjoy it..

* * *

The sound of the door unlocking and opening awoke Tara from her sleep automatically, for she knew what that meant; Courtney was home!  
She scrambled out of bed and out the bedroom door.  
"Courtney!"  
The aforementioned woman only had enough time to turn around when the 19-year-old literally threw her arms around Courtney.  
"Gak!"  
"You're home! YAY! How was your day at work? The usual boring-ness?"  
"Whoa! Calm down there, Tara! Man, I swear that you've got canine blood in you!" Courtney laughed, "Well, my work was slightly interesting. We got new supervisors. One reminds me of Fabio and the other one is a really cute Englishman by the name of Carl Welsh." she explained, smiling slightly at the memory.  
"Oooo... You've got a crush!" Tara teased.  
"Do not!" retorted Courtney, "I just think that he was cute..."  
"Yuh-huh, and I'm the Pope." replied Tara, sarcastically.  
"Shut up and leave me be." Courtney said, sticking out her tongue.  
"Are you excited about tomorrow?" Tara asked, changing the subject.  
"Of course I am! It's my twentieth birthday!"  
"Okay, chill!" Tara replied, grinnining. She then started to giggle.  
"What...?" asked Courtney, with a confused look on her face.  
"You've got a crush!"  
"I do NOT!"

Outside, a man in a duster and fedora sat down under a windo. Beside him was the Englishman from the call center.  
"We have only tonight to complete this, Carl. If we fail, then we're going to have a real mess on our hands and a very pissed off Holy Order."  
"Well I could have told you that, Helsing." Carl replied.  
"Then why didn't you?"  
"Because you were speaking and it would have been rude." Carl said in a dignified manner.  
"Whatever you say, Carl--What was that noise?" Helsing whispered, weapon at the ready.  
"It's called girls squealing and having fun." Carl answered, with a slight, knowing smile.  
Blinking, Helsing turned around, trying to peek in the window, only to come face-to-fabric with a curtain.  
"You honestly didn't think that a female couple would live on ground floor without a curtain, did you?"  
"No, but we need to keep an eye out for the right time to strike." Helsing grumbled, crouching back down beside the blonde-haired friar.  
"Like when they're, oh... asleep?" Carl asked, matter-of-factly. Helsing glared at his closest and only friend. Carl simply grinned and then frowned, sadly.  
"They usually go to bed at around twelve o' clock a.m., talk for a few hours, perhaps do something else, and then sleep." the friar replied with a sigh.  
"Good work, Carl." Helsing said with approval. Then, something dawned on him. "Wait, how would you know when..."  
"The walls aren't exactly soundproof, Helsing." Carl said, glowering, but slightly blushing as well.  
"I don't know.." Helsing started, "a live of sworn celibicy can do odd things to a man..." he suggested with a smirk.  
"I AM NOT A PEEPING-CARL!" shouted the friar, his face turning a lovely beet red shade.  
"Shhh... non-soundproof walls, remember Carl? And I thought the term was 'peeing-Tom'?"  
"Yes, well... I'm not named Tom, now am I?"  
"Nevermind.."  
Soon enough, the two men saw the room go dark. Knowing that it could take the two girls inside quite some time to fall asleep, they waited. And waited...and waited...and waited some more.  
"Carl..." Helsing whispered, nudging the friar. "Com on, Carl! Wake up!"  
"Buh-wha?" Carl replied, jolted out of his sleep.  
"Welcome to the land of the living." Helsing said with sarcasm, "Hurry, they're asleep!"  
"Well, so was I!" Carl whined.  
"Yes, but you weren't supposed to be. It's four-fifty a.m., so we must act quickly."  
With a sleepy nod, Carl managed to get onto his feet, and the two men walked onto the porched and into the building.  
Taking out a pair of keys, Helsing unlocked the first door, then walked through, followed by Carl. The second door gave them no hassle since it simply needed to be pulled open.  
When they got to the door of apartment 101, Helsing noticed that they had a problem.  
"When the Hell did they get a deadbolt, Carl!"  
"Don't look at me!" Carl said, defensively, "They must've installed it while we were at the call center today."  
"Shit." the monster-hunter cursed, glowering at the one thing stopping them from a peaceful entry into the apartment. He then saw something the thought that he'd never see. Carl crouche down, took something from his pocket and proceeded to pick the lock!

* * *

Meanwhile, Tara snuggled back against Courtney, but noticed something very strange.  
"Courtney, you're freezing! Are you sure that you have enough covers?" she asked, sleepily.  
"I assure you, that I have enough covers. But no matter how many blankets you put over me, there is nothing that can warm this skin of mine."  
Tara's eyes widened. That didn't sound like Courtney... In fact, that didn't sounde like a female whatsoever!  
She rolled over, only to come face-to-face with a man whom had long, black-brown hair, bright blue eyes, a slightly large nose and a pale, too pale skin tone. She blinked a few times, the entire thing taking a few seconds to process in her sleep-induced brain.  
That's when it happened; for once in her entire life, Tara screamed. While screaming like a banshee, she scurried off the air mattress, taking the blankets with her, not only to keep warm, but to censor herself as well, for she slept in the nude. She then did the only logical thought in her illogic brain. She unplugged the clock/radio and biffed it at him.  
He dodged it quite easily, suddenly being behind her.  
"That wasn't very polite..." 


	3. These clothes came from where?

A/N: Sorry for being so late with the 3rd chapter, folks! It's been done for a while, it's just that my editor/proofreader didn't have the time to edit and proofread until recently. Hopefully the chapter length will make up for the late update:D I give you, CHAPTER 3!

* * *

Tara stiffened up, her entire body rigid and her eyes wide in fear. She managed to make sure that the blanket was still held tightly against her body. She felt two deathly cold hands move her purple hair away from her neck and tilt her head. She didn't know what was going on, or what was going to happen, but she could guess that it wasn't good.  
No matter how hard she willed, her body would not move. Fear had paralyzed her. She culd feel something sharp against her neck, digging into her flesh slowly. Just as she felt a prick of pain, the door burst open.  
"Stop right there!" Helsing stated sternly, aiming a pistol at the man behind Tara. Carl peeked out from behind him, quickly shutting his eyes.  
"AH!" Tara shouted, movement returning to her limbs. She managed to stand up on wobbly legs, running into the closet. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" cam the muffled demand.  
"Dracula has risen again." Helsing explained, keeping his eyes on the naked man. "You MUST leave and hide in a safter place."  
"There is NO way I'm going anywhere without Courtney! No way in the Nine Circles of Christian Hell!" she shouted from the closet.  
"You have to, or you'll be his first meal! Besides," the monster hunter paused, "Courtney's gone."  
"Gone! What do you mean 'gone'? She was right here when I fell asleep. There is no way that she's gone!"  
Van Helsing sighed, "She is. The reason we've gome to this town was to find your beloved girlfriend and kill her before her twentieth birthday. We obviously failed on that account, as Dracula is now here. We didn't think that he would emerge at the time she was born and that you would have gotten a deadbolt for your apartment door!" he took a slight breath, calming himself. "Now, Courtney's soul is eternally damned." he finished, watching as Dracula stood up.  
"Carl, you know where to take her."  
The friar nodded, opening his eyes just long enough to see the closet and quickly making his way over.  
"Please, miss. Come with me." carl said, glancing to his side, seeing that Dracula had started to make his way over. Helsing's finger started to pull the trigger, keeping his aim on the vampire.  
"I'd hurry up if I were you!"  
"One minute!" Tara yelled.  
"You don't have a minute!"  
"Well excuse me for trying to get dressed!" came the annoyed reply.  
"You're in great peril and all you can think about is FASHION?" Helsing yelled, angrily.  
"Wrong! I don't think about fashion! It doesn't even enter my mind!"  
The closet door slid open with a slam, startling Carl. Tara took ahold of the friar's wrist, slightly yelling at the monster hunter, "And I definitely don't want to go running around the town of Bridgewater NAKED!"  
With that said, Tara and Carl ran past Helsing and into the hall. In the bedroom, Dracula smirked at his old friend. He now had the blanket and was wrapping it around himself.  
"It seems that you have failed again, Van Helsing. Although, I am quite surprised that you found out about my..." he paused, "odd reincarnation."  
Helsing didn't reply, opting to glare at the vampire, pistol at the ready even more so. Dracula laughed.  
"Do you honestly think that you can vanquish me from his Earth? That you can 'kill' me, as it were?" he asked politely.  
"I may not be able to kll you personally, but I can at least put you out of commission for a while." Helsing replied.  
"With what? You have no werewolves to bite me, nor do your weapons have any effect except to simply agitate." the vampire lord stated as he walked over to a cardboard box, opening it.

* * *

"Where on Earth are we going to go in order to hide from a...a...thing like that?"  
"The only place that I can think of," Carl replied breathlessly, "A church."  
"A church? Are you flippin' mad--" Tara was drowned out by a loud smash of sorts. She jumped, getting scared outo f her wits.  
"Well, there goes your livingroom window." the friar commented.  
"Aw damn! How the Hell are we going to--"  
"You. Courtney's gone." Carl interuptted.  
"WE! I do NOT believe that at five a.am. Courtney suddenly got blinked out of existence!" she said forcefully.  
"CARL!" Helsing yelled, getting up off the glass-scattered pavement, "Get her to safety! NOW! He's on the loose!"  
"On it!"  
The friar took ahold of Tara's wrist, dragging her along with him to the nearest church. He pulled on the door, but to no avail did it open.  
"What kind of church has its doors LOCKED?"  
"Apparently, one that doesn't want to be robbed or vandalized." Tara replied, sarcastically.  
"But curches are supposed to be SANTUARIES!"  
"Only if you're a few centuries old! How old are you, anyway?" Tara asked.  
"A true man never tells his age."  
"Ah-huh...Whoever said you were a 'true man'?" she asked, with a smirk.  
Just before Carl could retort, the church doors opened and tara was yanked into its intereior. Carl tried to get in, only to find the doors locked once more. Helsing ran up to him.  
"Where is she?"  
"In there." the friar said, worriedly.  
"Ah, good." Van Helsing replied, glad that she was safe inside the Lord's house.  
"No, not good.."  
"Yes, because she's in a church."  
Carl shook his head, "No, because HE yanked her inside!"  
"Then why didn't you go in after her?" Helsing demanded.  
"It happened all so fast that I couldn't do anything and besides," Carl added, "the doors are locked."  
"You picked the deadbolt, but you didn't pick this lock?" the monster hunter asked, angrily.  
"No, because that means that I'd be breaking into a CHURCH and as a Man of God, I just can't do that."  
Helsing sighed and quickly picked up a large rock.  
"What are you doin—Van Helsing, NO!" Carl yelled, grabbing Helsing's wrist, trying to prevent the large hunk of rock from being thrown.

* * *

Inside the church, Tara had managed to hop up onto a pew, backing away from the vampire.  
"There...m-must be someone ELSE out there you c-could feed from!" she said, hopefully pleading.  
Dracula chuckled, "No, your blood is quite delicious..."  
The teeen stared at him briefly before hopping down off the pew and into the aisle, glaring at him.  
"How on Earth do you know--"  
"What your blood tastes like?" he finished for her, "Quite simple, my dear... I have been rsiding in this woman's body since the moment she was born," he explained, watching as Tara backed up toward the altar. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of her, causing her to yell out in sudden fright and tripping over a step before landing on her butt. Dracula smirked down at her, continuing his explanation.  
"She knows what your blood tastes like. So in turn, I know what your blood tastes like. I know what hardships she has been through as well as what she has experienced with you." he finished.  
Tara stared at him in disbelief, slowly getting up onto her feet.  
"You...know everything?" she asked, letting it sink in.  
"Yes." Dracula replied, simply.  
"EW! YOU PERVER!" she yelled.  
"I beg your pardon?" Dracula asked, quite offended.  
"If you know EVERY SINGLE THING that Courtney has been through, then that means you KNOW when we've... you've seen us when we've..."  
"I have not watched when you and she were making love. I have more self-respect and dignity than that, I assure you." he said in a calm, dignified tone of voice, but it seemed that there was no getting through to Tara. She was freaking out, spitting out words quicker than a cheetah could run. Although, they weren't understandable by any means.  
The vampire watched her, seeing her arm shoot out towards something beside her. Whatever she had grabbed, Tara biffed it as hard as she could. Dracula dodged it easily with a side-step. It was at this time that carl had finally picked open the door. Helsing had talked the friar into doing the deed, after convincing him that God would forgive him and that he would not be smited or thrown into the pits of Hell.  
Unfortunately, when the friar opened the door, he got hit with what Tara had thrown. Helsing looked down at Carl,  
"What was that?" S  
till winded, Carl looked at the object, "The Bible..." he said in a slightly stunned manner.  
"Ah.." Helsing said as he helped up his friend. It was all he could say, for he didn't know what else could be said.  
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"  
Both men looked ahead, seeing Tara being cornered by Dracula. Van Helsing started walking down the aisle, getting his pistols out and ready by his sides.  
"Dracula!" he shouted, causing the vampire to turn around. Dracula bowed slightly.  
"Ah, Gabriel. So nice of you to join me."  
"Step away from the girl, Dracula. She doesn't need to be brought into this."  
The vampire took a good few steps towards Van Helsing, his pale hands clasped behind his back.  
"She's already been brought into this, don't you see Gabriel?" The moment that Courtney and herself met, she was pulled into 'this'."  
Tara listened to every word aptly, as she slowly made her way towards the two men. Down below, she saw Carl signaling her. She rose an eyebrow, confused.  
Carl sighed, trying with all his might to look inconspicuous and to signal her down to safety.  
"Tel me, Van Helsing.." she heard Dracula say as she watched the friar below. Finally understanding what he was trying to convey, Tara nodded and started to slowly make her way down towards him.  
"Are you going to try to save her soul as well?" Dracula asked, glancing over at Tara, who was attempting to climb over the rail that seperated the altar from the congregation. She was almost over it when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her head wh ipped to the side, looking down at the hand. Her eyes didn't need to travel upwards to know to whom it belonged. The hand pulled her back over the rain and kept a firm grip on her shoulder.  
"Are you going to send her to an early grave, all to save her soul?" the Prince of Darkness continued, still gripping the petrified female.  
Helsing didn't answer.  
"For, it seems to me that in order to save a person's soul, you have to kill the person."  
Helsing glared.  
"Get your damned hand of her." he said through clenched teeth. Dracula smirked, shaking his head.  
"No," the vampire replied.  
"Let. Her. Go." said the monster hunter, trying to keep his temper down.  
"No." replied the vampire again, maintaining his casual, cool and almost friendly demeanor. Tara tried to wriggle out of his grip, but to no avail. He simply looked down at her with a slight smile.  
It was then that his eye twitched and his smile faded. At first, it seemed like he wa shrinking and that his clothes were becoming too big for him. His black-brown hair was shortening in his ponytail and turning a reddish colour. His chest was filling out, much to his displeasure and his flesh was gaining life. His eye colour faded to green and soon, it was no longer him standing there, but a very confused Courtney! She looked at Tara.  
"Why are we in a church...? And wh..why am I in men's clothing?" she asked, totally confused.  
"Uhm... I'll tell you later, but in the mean tim..." Tara replied, suddenly hugging Courtney tightly.  
"I'm terribly sorry, ladies.." Van Helsing interrupted, causing the girls to look at him.  
"Who's... Wait-a-minute! Mr. Helsing? Carl? What are you doing here?" the red head asked, now more confused than ever.  
"W-well," Carl stuttered, looking down at the floor. "We, well not 'we', more like him." Carl pointed to Helsing. "He's here to kill you."  
"What?" the twenty-year-old shouted. "Why?"  
"Because," the monster hunter replied, causing Courtney's bewildered stare to fall upon him again. "Dracula has risen."  
Courtney just stared, "You are insane." she stated and pointed at Carl. "And YOU! You're worse than insane! You'er psychotic for even going along with him!"  
At that, Carl gringed slightly, simply listening to Courtney go on.  
"That still doesn't explain how I got here, or why I'm wearing men's clothing or why you're trying to kill me!"  
"Actually, it does. You're here because Dracula was here. You're in those clothes because he was wearing them." Helsing explained. Courtney still looked confused. She took a closer look at the clothes that she was wearing. Apparently, who she had supposedly been, loved black. Black frockcoat that had a military air, black shirt, black pants...black everything!  
"Wait...Ter? Where did these clothes come from?" she asked, slightly tugging at the frockcoat.  
"It's the package from Dane from when he was in Romania, remember? Since we're both into odd stuff, he figured that we'd like something historical." Tara replied with a shrug.  
Helsing was taking this conversation as a good enough distraction for him to take aim at Courtney's head with his pistol. Unfortunately for him, Tara looked over and quickly grabbed Courtney's wrist and ran for it, yanking her along. The monster hunger fired. The twenty year old gave out a cry of pain; the bullet had knicked her arm.  
"Courtney, GET DOWN!" Tara yelled.  
"Don't have to tell me twice!" she cried out, dropping to the wooden floor.  
The two girls crawled, trying to use the pews for cover from the bullets. Everytime a bullet was fired and missed its target, it hit the wood of the pew, causing it to splinter this way and that. They dented the floor, getting dangerously close to its intended targed. He stopped, watching for the two girls; waiting for an opening to fire through.  
Silence filled the church like the frightening quiet following the explosion of a nucliar bomb. Van helsing's eyes flittered to the left, having seen some movement. He listened about, eyes narrowing. That's when he heard it, a sound that he hadn't heard for ages. A sharlish growl that had a slightly humanish quality to its animalistic tendancy. As soon as he saw the shape of the werewolf he fired, the bullet lodging in its leg.  
Courtney yelled out in fear, trying to scamper away, hoping to Bast that she wouldn't be see, that she would be safe.  
The Left Hand of God continued to fire at the beast as it limped, leapt and dodged as best it could. It wasn't before long that it was charging at Van Helsing. He rolled to the side, quickly dropping his pistols and grabbing his faithful tojos. Spinning its blades quickly, the monster hunter slashed across. Bright crimson blood splattered through the air. The wolf creature howled in pain, falling back onto it's rump. It's right cheek had been cut cleanly; the bright red-pink colour of muscle and flesh could be seen through the dark-brown fur. Blood seeped out of the woud, trickling slowly down the wolf's face.  
It growled, then stood and barked. Heavy bipedal hind paws walking towards the monster hunter, who back away carefully, keeping a close eye on the werewolf.  
Tojos spinning, Helsing readied his aim as the beast leapt at him, deadly claws reaching out towards him, canine teeth bared and saliva dripping down in long, stringly lines. Just as it was about to land on him, Van Helsing rolled out of the way, slashing the spinning blades of the tojo horizontally. Bits of of fur fell onto the church floor, but not damage had really been done.  
The monster hunger glared slightly, thoroughly frusterated. He was supposed to be saving the soul of a twenty year old woman, not battling a werewolf that decided to randomly show up!  
As this unscripted batter went on, Carl had found Courtney and was keeping an eye on her. She was fine, a bit shaken up, but fine. That was until he noticed that a certain vampire was making another appearance. He friar gave a frightened gulp and proceeded to get the Holy Order Knight's attention.  
"Helsing! Van Helsing!"  
"I'm a bit busy right now, or are you blind to that fact?" Helsing replied, dodging a swip from his opponent.  
"It's--" Carl was cut off by the screams of police sirens. Someone obviously had heard the ruckus and reported the going ons.  
"It's the police! I know that we had our target, but in the interest of the mission, I suggest a hasty retreat. You can't do much from behind bars!" the friar said quickly. Helsign didn't like the idea of retreat, but Carl did have a point. If caught, the definitely wouldn't be able to do what he had to. Perhaps for quite a long time. He sighed,  
"I see your point, Carl." Van Helsing said, dodging another swipe. He quickly punched the wolf's head to make it stumble back a bit in order to make his way to the smashed in window. It worked. After the deft punch, the wolf had become slightly disoriented. The monster hunter ran towards Carl, grabbing hold of his arm and made for the window. Helsing pushed the friar through, who landed with a thud on the grass. Van Helsing followed.  
The two men ran off down the street. By the time the gops had arrived, Helsing and Carl were gone. What the did see, however was a large bat-like creature burst through the roof of the church and fly off into the night and a canine beast shatter the doors as it leapt out and run off. One of the policemen rubbed his eyes in disbelief.  
"That's in, no more confiscated weed for me." 


	4. ANGST!

Sunlight halted against the brownish curtain as it hung in front of the window. A slight breeze blew through, causing it to ripple slightly, making it seem as if it where made of water for a brief second. The cd player-clock, which sat on the grey speckled carpet showed that it was 8:45. Everything in the room from the painted on book shelf to the empty pizza box covered in wax from candles seemed to be as it usually was. Tara yawned a bit, stretched her limbs and rolled over, opening her eyes. Her eyebrows knitted together as she made out the form next to her, all cuddled up in blankets. She smiled and rolled onto her back, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Just a dream...a really odd dream. That's all it was."

Courtney then rolled over and gave Tara a hug and snuggled against her warm flesh. Tara looked at her and smiled, kissing her forehead.

"Mmmm... Good morning, Tara."

"Good morning, Courtney.. sleep well?"

"Mmhmm... still want to sleep, though..." she replied.

"Well, it is only..." the nineteen year old looked at the clock, "ten to nine."

"Too early..."

"Yeah, well you can go back to sleep, if you want to."

Courtney stretched, "I might.. I heard you saying something about an odd dream...?"

"Yeah." Tara nodded, "I had a dream that on your twentieth birthday you had turned into Count...Dracula and that the two supervisors from your work tried to kill you."

Hearing this, Courtney laughed right out loud, "Riiigghhhttt...no more late night sugar for you, my dear!" Chortling, she got out of bed, upon which she winced and looked down at her arm.

"How the hell did that happen?" she yelled, looking at the gash that was in her arm.  
Tara got up and crawled over to Courtney, looking at her arm. Her face paled,

"I...I don't know." A thought then hit Tara upside the head. "Courtney?"

"Yeah?" the other replied, looking at her arm.

"Is there any sort of cut or something on my face?"

Courtney looked over and nodded, "Y-yeah..along your right cheek bone. How did THAT get there? Are you alright, Tara?"

Without answering her, Tara crawled off the bed and ran over to the mirror, looking closely at her face. There it was, sure enough, a nice gash along her right cheek bone. Her face went even paler. She slowly backed away from the mirror and plopped down onto the floor, staring off into space.

"Then...it happened...?" Tara asked, mainly to herself.

"Then WHAT happened?" Courtney practically yelled, trying to figure out as to why she and Tara were cut and bruised and sore. Her raised voice made Tara jump a bit, quite startled.

"At 5 am yesterday morning, I woke up and you were feeling uber cold... But it wasn't you.. It was this Count Vladislaus Dragulia guy..and he's a vampire. Yes, Count Dracula. I threw our stereo at him and.. he tried to bite me but these two guys came. I'm guessing they were the two supervisors you told me about. Then one of them took me to the church, but he was already there... I tried to get away, but...they got there. We tried to escape, but then.. something happened. Not quite sure as to what...can't remember.." Her face screwed up in concentration, trying desperately to remember, "All I remember is that I was in the apartment with this odd vampire man and freaking out..."

Hearing this, Courtney's eyes whizzed over the entirety of Tara's face, trying hard to figure out if what she was saying was true, or some made-up fabrication as the result of too little sleep. She simply couldn't get her head around it.

"Are you nuts! I do not go around turning into Counts... or guys... or whathaveyou. And those guys from work are NOT trying to kill me!"

Tara then looked over at Courtney, an odd seriousness replaced the usual silliness that called her face home. She started at her girlfriend long, and hard, barely ever blinking.

"Then how did you get that shot wound in your arm, Courtney? How did I get this gash across my cheek bone? How come you don't remember anything and I don't remember what happened from the Church to here?"

"I...I don't know! Maybe..maybe there was something in the wine we drank with supper last night.. Or we cut ourselves on something...while sleepwalking..." She put her hands to her head, trying in vain to think of something that caused this.

"We do not suffer from sleepwalking, Courtney. We do not walk about in a sonambulatory way!" Tara said, standing, walking over to a hook on the wall where her silky green housecoat hung. She took it off the hook, slipped it on and tied it up in a silghtly harsh way. "Something did indeed happen. I KNOW it. As crazy as it sounds, I do think that it was what I just told you..." She paused for a second, flumping down onto the mattress. "Egads.. I've finally lost it.."

The red head simply stared at the the white wall. Forcing herself to recall what happened the night before, but it was a blur. She had completely lost a whole day. Tara looked over at her, tears gathering in her hazel eyes.

"Courtney, I don't want you to get killed. In fact," she sniffled, "I'm going to do whatever I can in order to stop them from doing it. Can you believe that they're going to kill you in an attempt to save your soul..?"

Courtney laughed softly, "After what you just told me? Yeah, I do... that is, if it's actually true.."

"When have I ever lied to you?"

"Never..." she looked at Tara, "But a story that far-fetched...? How could it have happened?"

The ninteen-year-old gave a shrug and shook her head, "How should I know? All that I know is that I'm not going to let ANYONE harm you. I love you too much to let these...shmools to suddenly come into our lives and try to kill you!"

"Okay, okay.. calm down, Ter. Calm down. No one is going to try to kill me..and I'll prove it to you. It's my day off, so let's go down to the mall, okay?"

She nodded slightly, "Alright. I suppose we shouldn't stop living because some of yutz and his sidekick. Mall it is! Urm... AFTER breakfast though?" This thought was only intensified by her stomach grumbling in protest to its emptyness.

"Right-o! Breakfast it is, then!"

* * *

Gabriel Van Helsing flopped back onto the bed in the hotel room that he and Carl were sharing. The hotel room wasn't anything too fanciful, after all, they never had too much money in their pockets. There was a single king-sized bed, a lamp, desk, bureau, chairs and a bathroom. The curtains in front of the window were a light yellow colour, while the walls were a horrid lime green. The only thing to look at without getting a headache was the ceiling, which was white. And even at the best of times, it was horrid. Carl was already up and about, ready to go.

"Oh stop moping about, Helsing. You'll get another chance...unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" Van Helsing sat up right on the bed, "Carl, did you see what that thing almost did to my throat?" he said, pointing angrily to the large gash that was covered in bandages on his chest. They were stained with blood and soon had to be changed.

Carl cringed a bit at the yell, "Yes, I did see. I was there. I'm just saying that if we didn't do this, then it wouldn't have happened.."

"But we have to, don't we? We have to come into their lives, kill Ms. Freeman so that Dracula will be out of commission."

"What if how we're going about this is wrong?" Carl asked.

"Well then it's a chance we'll have to take."

Carl stared at Van Helsing, his lips pursed shut in a thin line. He hated this mission. Hated it with a passion. A chance they'd have to take would cost a young woman's life and totally shatter the lives of those who cared for her. He gave a sigh, resigning for now, watching Helsing put on a shirt and his duster. He had kept his pants on from the other night. Soon, they were out the door and starting another day that would never brighten, no matter how sunny it was.


End file.
